Package-holder for mail-boxes.



F. R. PECK.

PACKAGE HOLDER FOR MAIL BOXES.

APPLIUATION FILED APR. 1, 1911.

1 ,O7 1 ,082, Patented Aug. 26, 1913.

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STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRED R. PECK, OF BERLIN, WISCONSIN, ASSIGNOR TO PECK-HAMRE C0., 0F BERLIN, WISCONSIN, A CORPORATION OF WISCONSIN.

PACKAGE-HOLDER FOR MAIL-BOXES.

Application led April 1, 1911.

T0 all whom it may concern.'

Be it known that I, FRED R. P'Ecx, a citizen of the United States, residing at Berlin, county of Green Lake, and State of Wisconsin, have invented new and useful Improvements lin Package-Holders for Mail- Boxes, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements 1n package holders for mail boxes.

Heretofore it has been attempted to provide Apackage holders, either attached -to mail f boxes or flat wall plates in which the holder was formed of resilient material adapted to hold a package by resilient pressure when the latter was forced between the members of the holder.

The object of my invention is to provide a form of construction in which the package may be held in position by gravity, whereby the packages may be not only easily inserted, but retained in the holder independently of resilience in the metal of which the holder is composed. I am thus enabled to provide a more durable holder, the utility of which will not be affected by corrosion such as destroys the efliciency of resilient holders.

In the following description, reference is had to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a perspective view of a mail box equipped with my invention, one wall of the box being partially broken away to better illustrate the pivotal elements of the construction, said holder being illustrated as it appears when a large package is inserted therein, and Fig. 2 is a silnilar view showing the holder with a small package in position Like parts are identified by the same reference characters throughout both views.

The mail box A may be of any ordinary construction. A holder, preferably formed of wire, is provided with pivot pins B, hanger arms C, loops D, and connecting member E. The loops D are hook-shaped and their outer extremities are connected by Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 26,1913.

seriarNo. 618,283.

of such size as to lill the loop D. If desired, the loop D may be formed of resilient material so as to allow a certain degree of expansion, whereby it may receive packages of larger size than the normal capacity of the loop. The connecting member E may also serve as a hanger for manipulating the holder. When a small package is inserted in the holder, the latter may be permitted to swing to the position illustrated in Fig. 2, in which the package is permitted to swing underneath the mail box, as shown in F igrQ. The holder tends to swing to this position by gravity and when in this position, any ordinary packagesuch as a newspaper or folded piece of fabric will have sufficient resilience to cause it to spring against the bottom of the box and thus prevent it from slipping out or being blown out longitudinally by the wind. Another package may be simultaneously held against the front of the box, the loop D being of such form as to project beyond the front wall of the box, as shown in Fig. 2. It will be understood that the weight of a package held in front of the box will add to the tendency of the holder to swing toward the position illustrated in Fig. 2, and will thus bring the package more securely in position.

All parts of the holder are preferably formed integrally from a single piece of wire, the extremities of which are inturned to form the pivot pins B, which are sprung into suitable apertures formed in the side walls of the mail box preferably at a point materially distant from the front wall, and at such a distance from the bottom of the box that the loop D will extend sufficiently below the box to receive a small or fiat package, such as the package I shown in Fig. 2. The outwardly and upwardly curving front portion of the loop D, coincides very nearly with a line representing the lower corner of the box when the holder is in normal position, as shown in Fig. 2, thus serving to prevent packages applied to the front face of the box, from slipping downwardly past the corner J, and also coperates with the holder to retain a package against the bot-tom of the box.

lVhile I have described my improved holders as applied to mail boxes, it will, of course, be understood that it may similarly be applied to any projecting supporting member, and I therefore do not limit the scope of my invention to the specific combination of the holder with a box.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

l. The combination with a mail box, of a piece of wire having its respective ends pivotally engaged in holes in the side walls of said box at a substantial distance to the rear of the front wall, said wire being bent intermediate of its ends to form depending hangers at the sides of the box, mail receiving loops projecting outwardly and upwardly and inwardly from the lower ends of said hangers, and a cross bar connecting the front upper portions of the loops in front of the box, the lower portions of said loops being below the bottom of the box.

2. The combination with a mail box, of a pair of hangers, each pivotally secured to one side wall of said box, and extending to points below its bottom, package receiving loops extending outwardly, forwardly and upwardly from the lower ends of the hangers the front portions of said loops also curving inwardly toward the plane of the front wall of the box with the lower front portions of the loops normally projecting substantially across the line of the lower front corners of the box to form a plurality of package receiving pockets below and in front of the box, and a cross bar connecting said loops with each other in front of the box.

In testimony whereof I afix my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

FRED R. PECK.

Witnesses:

HENRY O. HAMRE, DONALD L. BROWN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents. Washington, D. C. 

